Suneer Chowdhary
( Cricket Writer)
Writer's Home »

Ricky Ponting is an angry man these days. Maybe, he is even afraid. Probably, it is that anger that has culminated into a sense of fear. But one thing is for certain. His experience at the Indian Premier League has left him a little disillusioned.

For starters, he was bought at a price that was 'very disappointing', according to the Aussie skipper. Players like Andrew Symonds, David Hussey and even the recently retired Adam Gilchrist went for much more. To rub salt onto the wounds, he did not play as a skipper, but under an Indian and that is something he would have not cherished one bit. Could that have been one of the reasons for his abysmal performance in this season of IPL? One can never tell and his statistics do make for a not-so-great reading. He managed to barely pile on 39 runs in the four matches that he played!

So much so, that one almost gets the feeling that Ponting is only happy to be away from the Indian Premier League currently, but even then it has not taken the bitterness away. First came the 'Slap gate' incident, and Ponting had to have a say in it. He minced no words in pronouncing that Harbhajan has been unmasked, a subtle way of exclaiming 'I told you so…in Australia.'

And now comes the latest salvo that the Aussie skipper's Kookaburra bat contract is going to be terminated. Even as the Australian cricket team embarks on a three Test tour to the Caribbean, Ponting's urged his countrymen "to watch their current stars than the retired greats in the IPL." He adds,

"I know if I was sitting back in my lounge room, being the cricket traditionalist I am, I would certainly be watching test cricket over the IPL."

Technically, Ponting seems to be doing grave injustice to the current and future hopeful Aussie players like David Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Brett Greeves, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach and Shane Watson, who are not only not yet 'retired', but also have been performing excellently for their respective franchisees. And even as Ponting talks about the retired players such as the likes of Glen McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and the greatest of them all, Shane Warne, it is not easy to fathom why Ponting would want to issue such a statement, especially when the viewing audience would want to lap up what these greats still have to offer before they finally call it quits from all forms of the game. Citing the best example of that of Shane Warne, who the Aussie public would love to watch, as Ian Chappell puts it, 'the best captain Australia never had', as he weaves his magic around opposing batsmen and captains alike with his astute and motivating leadership, even in a format like Twenty20.

Secondly, and more importantly, what Ponting is essentially doing is nothing but challenging the very ethos on which the economics principle of supply and demand is based. As with business, it is this very demand that determines the success or failure of any goods, or services, and the plain, vanilla fact is that Ponting's urgings or otherwise may not affect it too much. This is where Ponting's insecurity can be quite distinctly seen, and can be interpreted in many ways, none worse than Punter being worried about his own TRP ratings, and in turn his sponsorships.

Also, the sense that one gets after hearing him speak these days is a clear cut case of sour grapes. After all, these are some of the characteristics that have already been attributed to him, as was evident when instead of praising Brian Lara's record breaking score of 400; he questioned the 'selfishness' exhibited by Lara in not declaring earlier.

So dear Ricky, we all wish you good luck, but exhort you to demonstrate a little more grace in your dealings. Cricket does not begin and end at you, wouldn't you agree?